I’m completely unmotivated to write today, so I came up with this list of things to jump-start my imagination.

• Write other people’s lives.
  Go somewhere there are people (a coffee shop, the mall, a library, etc.) and write stories featuring the characters around you. Why are they there? Who are they talking to and what about? What if their lives were more interesting than they might first appear? Who’s cheating on their spouse, who’s an undercover cop, who’s a celebrity in disguise?
• Practice writing dialog.
  Write dialog for couples or groups of people you can see talking but can’t hear. What are they saying to each other? What clues can you get from their body language? Is this a life-changing conversation or just a casual meeting? Are they using another language or regional dialect? What quirks of speech does each person have? Does one of them say “um” all the time while the other speaks in short, crisp sentences?
• Write the back story for your characters or your world.
  If you are working on a novel, write the genealogy of one of your characters or describe the history of your world. How does your character’s background influence her? Is she trying to live up to her parents’ expectations or is she trying to escape them? Does your character’s nationality affect how he interacts with others? If you’re writing science fiction or fantasy, what’s the origin or creation myth for your world? What recent events, like a war or famine, might impact your characters’ lives? What smaller events might affect them? Maybe some of this material will end up in the story, or maybe it will just get you thinking about your story in a different way.
• Change your physical perspective.
  Go outside and sit with your nose almost touching a tree. What do you see from this vantage point? Smell? Hear? What does the bark feel like? Can you identify the tree by looking only at the bark? Now take a seat further back, so you can see the whole tree. Can you identify it now? By what characteristics? What do you see, smell, hear now? Step back even farther, but only in your mind. How old do you think this tree is? If you know some local history, imagine what this tree could have seen. Pilgrims? Indians? Or just the people who lived in this house before you? Was the tree planted or was it once part of a forest, growing wild from a dropped seed? For what other objects, natural or manmade, could you write a history?
• Change your creative perspective.
  Go into your kitchen and collect a bowl of fruit. Arrange it as though you are going to paint a still life, then consider what details a painter would see that you might otherwise ignore? Expand this idea to other objects and scenes. A writer may not think it important to describe the quality of the light in a forest scene, but a photographer would consider the lighting carefully. That same forest scene will mean different things to an architect, a park ranger, and a criminal with evidence to hide. Try shifting your perspective to freshen up your writing.
• Practice reverse inspiration.
  If you still can’t get the latest Harry Potter book out of your head, imagine the opposite story. Harry Potter is an orphan boy who goes away to school, learns he’s special, and fights evil. Flip that around and write about a bratty girl who was spoiled by doting parents, goes away to school, finds out she’s nothing special, and only makes friends after learning some humility. Magic does not apply. Imagine the opposite of your favorite story and see where it leads you.

The next time you feel unmotivated, create your own list of things you could be writing about. Maybe one of them will catch your attention and send you off in a direction you never anticipated. Or if you need some more ideas, here are a few websites to get you started:

• Writer’s Digest - daily writing prompts
• Creative Writing Prompts
• Writing Fix Random Prompt Generator

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